Maybe I feel like the only one who thinks this, and who knows if it's actually what Timothy Sheader planned, but this is why I think this production (revisions and all) makes "Into the Woods" a perfect musical:
MAJOR FUCKING SPOILER ALERT:
The narrator IS the Baker's Son
And not just that Denis O'Hare doubles as the Baker and the father, no, I mean that the narrator IS literally their son. Thus why he knows this story, thus why he appears at times spiteful towards the Baker's Wife, even why he doesn't die in his dream.
This is not a new idea. In earlier drafts of the show, the narrator was meant to be the Baker's son. This is simply the first production to draw the parallel, and (fun fact) Sondheim loves this production. A lot.
Granted, this is just my interpretation after seeing both the Regent's Park production, and the Central Park transfer. Feel free to disagree, but with many people getting downright angry over this concept, I felt the need to put forward this idea.
I love the child narrator/ bakers son concept it just makes the theme of the story even stronger. And isn't reinventing what theatre is all about? The original remains a classic, but theatre isn't a museum. I thought the director was just fully realizing moments, that Sondheim and Lapine weren't able to get to, or somehow grasp.
Of all musicals the Sondheim shows, this one DESERVES new treatments. It's not like the original was some great masterpiece. The whole point of the project was explore something we all knew. It's not like they had the cast double as the orchestra or anything.
"Of all musicals the Sondheim shows, this one DESERVES new treatments. It's not like the original was some great masterpiece. "
Uh, Yeah. It was a masterpiece in it's original form and altering it is fixing something that was never broken to begin with. One of Sondheim's problems is never knowing when to leave well enough alone.
If this one's three hours, imagine how long a Trevor Nunn production would be! Maybe he'd split it into two nights. In any event, he'd suck all of the joy out of it.
joined:8/4/04
Posted: 8/11/12 at 11:39am